Can you hear me now, now, NOW?

"A person's a person, no matter how small."
~ Horton the Elephant

Yesterday, my yoga teacher began class by saying, "if we listen to our bodies when they whisper, we won't have to hear them scream." That phrase swirled around in my head as I practiced my deep breathing. I started to think of all the words you could substitute for "bodies"---children, to-do lists, tea pots. As I twisted myself into different shapes, those words drifted down into my heart. Here is how my heart translated them, "if we listen to our world when it whispers, we won't have to hear it scream." I am always amazed at how our world pulls together when some catastrophic event occurs. We all put aside our differences to roll up our sleeves, reach into our pockets, and open our hearts. We respond well to screams.
The authors of Half the Sky write that "39,000 baby girls die annually in China because they don't receive medical care." Do we hear them? Unicef reports that "A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth." Do we hear them? Partners in Health estimates that "Every year, more than 10 million children in developing countries die before reaching their fifth birthday." Do we hear them?
I hope, as a world, we can become better listeners. I hope more of us begin to hear the whispers of those in need before they have to scream, whether they are in Haiti, New Orleans, China, sub-Saharan Africa, or our own backyard.